


For Centuries

by keyarcher



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Community: grindeldore, Fanfiction, Gelbus, Hogwarts, M/M, Young Albus Dumbledore, Young Gellert Grindelwald
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:07:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29841987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keyarcher/pseuds/keyarcher
Summary: “Some legends are told,Some turn to dust or to gold,But you will remember me,Remember me, for centuries.Just one mistake,Is all it will take,We'll go down in history,Remember me for centuries."Grindeldore/Gelbus short story. Mostly memories from Dumbledore’s POV. Based on the song “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald
Kudos: 3





	1. "We were closer than brothers"

_“You and Grindelwald were as close as brothers”_

Oh, were closer than brother, we had what everyone else at that time wanted to have. We had each other, we were soulmates. We didn’t even have to talk to understand each other.

I look at the man in front of me, and get lost in my mind, my memories, my beautiful yet painful memories.

I saw Grindelwald for the first time, in Godric’s Hollow, walking so slowly like he didn’t want to reach his destination, which was my neighbour’s house. He didn’t see me, not until he was a few meters away only, we didn’t say a word, we just stared at each other, until he decided to break away and disappear. That moment was the beginning of the end.

I saw him for the second time when I visited Bathilda Bagshot, I stayed for dinner, because he suggested. I forgot to ask him for his name, but I learned it later that night, “Gellert”, he said. I thought it was a beautiful name, “That is a beautiful name”, I told him, not realizing where that conversation would lead us.

During the next few days, we talked about magic, about Durmstrang, about Hogwarts, and about his will to find power, and greatness. “They don’t understand, people, that in order to find greatness, you must travel alone”, he once told me, looking absentmindedly at a piece of paper where he noted every necessary plan and step to reach his goal.

One night, he told me about how he thought my name, ‘Albus’, was unique, because he’s never heard of it before. I didn’t say anything back, because I didn’t know what to say, so I let him talk, he talked about the Deathly Hallows, about how powerful we’d become if we just had them. “We can find them you know, then we can work out to rule the Wizarding World, along with the Muggle World”, he went from talking about being powerful and the ruler of the two Worlds to including me in every single one of his plans. I did not protest, I even encouraged him and helped him, I made research of my own to help him more.

“I heard someone talk about us lately, someone from here, from Godric’s Hollow”, I did not believe him at first, but when he let me see it in his mind, I could not deny it. An old man was saying “Two clever, arrogant boys with a shared obsession”, that’s what we were, what we have been for an infinite amount of time.

“I don’t know where are The Cloak Of Invisibility and The Resurrection Stone but I do know where we can get The Elder Wand, we just have to have a perfect plan to get it and not leave any evidence that it was us”

I listened to him, all day, all night; ramble about the Deathly Hallows, his plans to rule over the Muggle World for their own good, adding to this the Wizarding World for the Greater Good. This was our device, FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

“You don’t talk much”, he once said, waiting for an answer. “You should only say something if it’s interesting, or absolutely has to be said”, I noticed a tiny flash of admiration in his eyes when I said that, and I think we became closer than we already were on that day.

We were closer than brothers, because what brothers would hold each other just to calm the other down? What brothers would hug each other after not meeting for two days? We were closer than brothers because when Gellert kissed me before leaving my room, I wouldn’t let him go, kissing him deeper and deeper every time.


	2. "Forever, whatever happens"

_“You swore not to fight each other”_

When Newt shows me the vial he stole from Grindelwald, I struggle not to immediately burst into tears, because of the flooding memories that suffocate me.

Gellert and I were standing face to face, in an abandoned little house not so far from Godric’s Hollow, I always knew it was there but I never dared to go. Never, until Gellert dragged me there, with a bag full of several ingredients and spells and everything we needed for whatever we were going to do.

“We are going to do a blood pact”, he announced, lifting the paper he got from his bag so I can read what is mentioned. “Why?” I asked out of curiosity, not anything else, because I trusted him with my whole soul. “So we can be sure that whatever is going to happen during our journey to rule the World, we will be loyal to each other, even if our paths never cross again”, I liked the idea, so I smiled, my way of letting him know I want to do the blood pact too.

I did not know what spells he was reciting, but I did know we had to cut our palms to mix our blood. We both had our own knives; I was waiting for his signal to start the kind of ritual. “Let’s do it”, he finally said, bringing his own knife to his hand. I tried to not concentrate on the pain I was feeling, while I felt my blood dripping out of my palm, I looked up and Gellert was already holding up his hand, we pressed our palms against one another while he recited other spells in Latin. I felt my eyes rolling and we couldn’t separate our hands even if we wanted to, so to make it easier for us to hold onto each other, we intertwined our fingers and waited for the thing to be done.

“Forever, whatever happens”, Gellert whispered before taking a step back, his hand slipping away from mine. “Forever, whatever happens”, I repeated. We held our palms towards the ceiling and waited, I don’t know what we were waiting for, but Gellert seemed to know, so I just waited too. At some point, two drops of blood rose from my scar, I watched them turn around until they formed a vial, confining the two drops of blood inside. “I have the same”, Gellert said, making me look up at him, seeing the exact same vial just above his hand. “Are we supposed to keep them forever?” “That’s the idea” “I like this idea”

We put the vials in Gellert’s bag because we didn’t want to go back home, I was sitting on an old wooden table in the same room we made the blood pact, where we swore not to fight each other, not knowing that we would have to do it years later.

“We are linked for life now, our blood pact is sealed in magic”, Gellert said those words while crouching in front me, his hands on my knees, holding his head up to look me in my eyes. “I swear not to fight you”, “I swear not to fight you”, we repeated the same sentence several times, until Gellert reached out one of his hands to cup my face, I tilted my head down and met him halfway, kissing him for the millionth time in less than two weeks.

“Do you have to go back to Hogwarts?” He then asked me, without letting go of my face. “I’m leaving in more than a month, we still have time” “I hope you are right”


	3. "Equals"

_“You are the only wizard, who is his equal”_

Throughout our journey to power, we realized many things, things I have never thought about before, things _he_ never thought about before, we realized we were equals, no one could reach us, and we knew it.

Gellert told me one day the he never thought of sharing his ideas and plans with anyone, then he met me, and made me his equal, because he knew I was worth it. I shared with him my personal ideas about the future of the Wizarding World; I also made him my equal. We were each other’s equals; we were always something for one another, even when we no longer belonged to each other.

Bathilda Bagshot, Gellert’s aunt and my neighbour, told everyone who asked her about us that the reason why we were spending so much time together was because we were working on a common project. I never knew if she ever suspected anything, anything more than friendship between us, but we always kept it a secret, we never crossed the line in public, we didn’t even make wrong moves, we both knew what would have happened if we did.

Now I know that all what we needed to do to become as famous as we wanted to be, was one mistake, one tiny mistake and we would go down in history. I told Gellert one day that if our paths had to separate, I would never forget him because of what he gave me, everything that we had together.

“You will remember me for centuries”, he replied, offering me one of his rare and genuine smiles. “I don’t doubt it, as long as it is mutual” “It is, forever, remember?” He meant by ‘forever’ our pact, our link, and I sure remembered, I’d never forget.

Gellert and I wanted to accelerate things, especially Gellert, who wanted the Elder Wand so bad I had to find all kinds of arguments to prevent him from stealing it right away. I managed to, by Merlin-knows-what-method.

“We have to improve our duelling skills”, I said once, to make him think about something else, something that is not the Deathly Hallows. “The abandoned house?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Yes, the abandoned house, it is a good place to train” “Let’s go there then, oh and I conjured something there, I forgot to tell you”

I tried to know what the thing he had conjured was, but he didn’t give up, he didn’t tell me until we arrived to the abandoned house, I immediately went to the room we always stayed in, and there was a huge piano in the middle of it. “Why would you need a piano?” “Because I play piano” “You’re joking, right?” “No, you can sit over there and I’ll show you, I am not just an obsessed dark young wizard you know”, I nodded my head and sat on the same old chair we brought here, in front of the piano, and Gellert waited awhile before he started playing.

That was all it took me to realize how young we still were, how we threw ourselves in an obsession we didn’t have to follow, but how we still stayed together and continued to make sacrifices and encourage each other to reach our common goal.


	4. "Throwing away what we had"

_“You knew what he was doing”_

Of course I did, at some point, as much as I loved Gellert Grindelwald, I could not ignore his actions anymore. I could not tolerate what he was doing anymore, he was literally torturing muggles, he said it was for their own good, for THE GREATER GOOD, but I knew it wasn’t, he just wanted to rule over everyone, over the two Worlds.

“I heard of what you did today”, Gellert looked at me oddly, as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. “Come on Gellert, you gathered a lot of people and made a speech about us Wizards being superior and having the responsibility to ‘take care’ of the Muggle World, what were you thinking about Gellert? You thought I wouldn’t know about it just because I refused to participate?” “People acclaimed me!” He exclaimed, standing proud. “They agreed to my ideas, at least, the ones I shared with them” “Yeah, you don’t want people knowing your true intention, do you?” “What do you mean?” “I mean that what you are doing is horrible Gellert! Horrible! I cannot tolerate such things without even trying to stop you!”

I screamed the last sentence, I could not take it anymore, even if it hurt as much as the Cruciatus would have hurt, I could not let him dive into darker plans and actions. “You are supposed to support me! To be on my side! We are linked by blood, by magic for Merlin’s sake!” I could see the hurt in his eyes, I really could. “But you are throwing away everything we had!” I countered, I could not stay quiet and let him bring me back to him, I wanted to slap him, to wake him from whatever dream he was living in, but I could not, instead I kissed him, hard, one last time, and Apparated away.

I was back in my room, body shaking; I locked my window and door, because Gellert was able to do anything to break into my room. And I was right, he tried to, but he couldn’t because of the spells I had put on everything. He understood after half an hour trying to break into my room, screaming that I could not leave him, that I still was his equal because of everything we had done together.

I let him scream, until he finally left. I thought about sending him a letter, not a hateful one, a simple one, to explain my opinion in a way. When I signed, I drew the symbol of the Deathly Hallows instead of the A in Albus, to let him know I was not mad about his obsession over the Hallows but him wanting to make of the Muggles his Slaves, or the Wizards’ Slaves.

He never told me this, but I finally understood it, with the way he talked and acted. My brother noticed I was not spending time with Gellert anymore; he wanted to know why, even if he was rather happy, he always hated Gellert. Bathilda came to our house to ask me why we weren’t together all the time anymore, because her nephew would not say a word, he wouldn’t even leave his room by day, only when necessary.

I wanted to go and see him, to try to forgive him, but I couldn’t, I didn’t have enough courage to face him without breaking down, until two weeks later, when Gellert has sent me a letter, begging me to forgive him and to join him in the abandoned house when everyone else would be asleep. He promised he has stopped his gatherings and his speeches, he swore on his life, and Gellert never swore on his life.

I was weak, I joined him, we made up and we spent the night kissing, snuggled up in a damaged bed found in another one of the rooms. We never spent a night like this, a calm one, we didn’t talk about ruling the World, we didn’t even have time to talk at all. I was the happiest at that moment, because all I wanted was him and I had him, and he had him, we had each other and we swore, again, not to fight each other anymore. Because we were each other’s everything, each other’s equal, forever, whatever happens.


	5. "Failed"

_“My brother made many sacrifices on his journey to power; my sister was one of them”_

Gellert’s and mine relationship came back to normal, meaning he spent a lot of time at my house, locked in my room, drawing plans, talking about the Hallows, and other days, better days, we would just lay on my bed and kiss from time to time, holding onto each other.

We decided we’d travel the world, because we needed to see and learn new things if we wanted to be great rulers, we also decided we’d take my sister Ariana with us. She was sick, and I thought it would be good for her to come with us to the outside world, to see new things with us, and also because I knew Gellert would never let me struggle with her alone, as heartless as he seems, he always assured me that if she came along, he’d take care of her as if she was his own sister, because in a way, she actually was.

“Ariana is not coming with you two crazy people!” My brother, Aberforth, hated Gellert, and hated the thought of being separated from Ariana, I always knew he was her favourite but I wanted to change her mind, or at least try to. “You are crazy; you are just an obsessed little kid who cannot do anything useful of his life!” He screamed this at Gellert’s face and the latter could not take it, he cursed my brother, the Cruciatus Curse, I froze, I tried to stop him, but Aberforth did it himself.

They started to duel, and I couldn’t stay out of this, I had to stop this by any way, so I joined in the duel, we were screaming spells, curses, and we didn’t even notice Ariana’s presence, until a green light hit her. We stood still, we did not know who sent the curse, I looked around, just in time to see Gellert Apparating away, looking at me one last time.

I crouched next to Ariana and Aberforth, he was hugging her dead body, and I was watching them, not saying anything. I could not do, nor say anything. It was my fault, even if we never knew who killed her.

I left my brother and my sister alone, because I knew Aberforth needed a moment alone with Ariana, they were really close, unlike me with them. The only person I’ve been close to was Gellert, and I did not have him anymore.

I failed to save my sister, I loved her, even thought I never showed it. I was more concentrated on the _greater good_ , on _Gellert_ , and now he was gone. I also failed to save him from the darkness he was diving into.

I spent the next weeks trying to find Gellert, to tell him that we still didn’t know who killed Ariana, that we still could meet from time to time, but I never found him, and I considered that as another failure, I failed again, and Gellert was away from me.

I was used to him that I didn’t know what to do anymore, I spent my time between the abandoned house and my room, hoping that he’d show to play the piano or to grab something he had forgotten, I’d spend hours laying on the bed we’d once laid on, thinking about how happy I would have been if he just came to me for a few minutes, but he never did and I was obliged to face the reality of it and try to move on. Try.


	6. "Legends"

_“THE ELDER WAND HAS BEEN STOLEN FROM ITS OWNER”_

The title of the Daily Prophet a month later didn’t help me get my mind off Gellert Grindelwald, because I knew it was him who had stolen the Elder Wand, he promised that if we didn’t have a proper plan in a month, he’d steal it, he already knew how to do it.

“Isn’t it one of the Deathly Hallows you have been obsessing over with your friend?” Aberforth asked me, giving me a disgusted look. “It is”, I’d left him before he’d started asking any more questions.

I immediately went to the abandoned house, I’ve been staying there a lot, since my brother became a stranger to me, and I became a stranger to him, not that we were close before, but Ariana’s death made things even worse. I had all my books and my parchments there, in the old bedroom, in the room of the blood pact, I always had my vial with me, sometimes wearing it as a necklace, sometimes just playing with it when I can’t do anything else but think of Gellert, swinging it back and forth.

At that time, I didn’t know I was going to become a legend, Gellert too. We were going to be the legends of that time, because we represented the Good and the Evil, who were friends before, and who separated because of different values, no one needed to know the truth about us, we let them tell whatever they wanted to, but I have to admit I was upset about a lot of what they were saying, I couldn’t correct them though.

I became a teacher at Hogwarts, I had to thank Gellert for all the experience he had given me, but I had to do it silently, in my mind, because I could not reach out for him, there would have been a scandal: _The Best Hogwarts Professor Contacted His Old Friend Gellert Grindelwald Who Is Now A Very Dangerous Dark Wizard Threatening Our Future_. This would have been the title of the Daily Prophet if someone ever caught me reaching out for Gellert.

I know I wouldn’t have been where I was without Gellert, but this, no one knew it, they all thought I got there all by myself. I also knew Gellert wouldn’t have been where he was without me, my ideas, my help; he went with a lot of _my_ parchments. It took him one mistake to go down in history, to become a legend, to become what he always wanted to become.

I have been following his actions from far away, from what the Daily Prophet let us know, from what people were saying all over Godric’s Hollow, and when I got to Hogwarts, I learned more things, about what he has done since he left me. I was shattered to pieces when he was gone, but I was even more when I heard of what he has been doing. I wanted to go to one of his gatherings so bad, but I couldn’t allow myself to, because it would have been the biggest mistake of my life, bigger than loving Grindelwald. And the fact that I started calling him Grindelwald instead of Gellert said a lot about my feelings.

I loved him from the moment we became closer than normal friends, and I knew we’d become something important, together or apart. I didn’t think much about the second option, being something important each in our own way, apart from each other. We were still equals though; this was something no one nor nothing could tear away. I tried to stop thinking about him but everyone talking about him didn’t help, I loved him my whole life, even when I had to fight him, after destroying the vials, I still loved, my heart ached like it never had.

I got the Elder Wand, I became a legend, but I never liked any of it, every time I had to use my wand, it reminded me of Gellert using it, killing people with it, and talking about it during our sunny afternoons on Godric’s Hollow. Everything reminded me of him and it hurt so much I didn’t know how to face it. I was diving into my own darkness, like Gellert did many years ago, while still being the only wizard who was able to defeat the Dark Magic. People acclaimed, but it just reminded me of how people used to acclaim Gellert, how they worshiped him, how _I_ worshiped him.

We were legends, our fight was known as one of the greatest one of all the Wizarding history, I should have been proud, instead, I just thought about how miserable Gellert might be feeling in his cell, in Nurmengard, his own prison that he himself had built.

Gellert was right, he was always right; I’d remember him for centuries, or at least, for as long as I was going to live. I couldn’t just forget him, he was my soulmate, I was his, I knew I was his because when I defeated him he whispered “Goodbye, _mate anima mea_ ”, which meant, “Goodbye, _my soulmate_ ”. These were his last words towards me before he was yanked away from me by the Ministry people, at least, I could think of him the way I wanted to, knowing he was thinking of me the same way.


End file.
